Difference Between I9 and W9

Key Difference – I9 vs W9
 

Employee verification and tax collection are two vital elements that governments are interested in. Governments in many countries have specified a number of rules and regulations for tax collection and employee verification. I9 and W9 are two forms used for such activities in the United States to ensure effective employee verification and tax collection. The key difference between I9 and W9 are that I9 form is an official verification of identity and legal authorization to work required for all paid employees whereas W9 is a form filled by third party companies such as independent contractors who provide services to companies, upon the request from the respective company.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is I9
3. What is W9
4. Side by Side Comparison – I9 vs W9 in Tabular Form
5. Summary

What is I9?

The I9 form is an official verification of identity and legal authorization to work which concerns all paid employees in the United States. This is a mandatory requirement by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services according to the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986. I9 is also referred to as the Employment Eligibility Verification Form.

Employers must provide facially valid documentation verifying the employee’s identity and legal authorization to accept employment in the United States at the time of hiring new employees. Under federal law, any employee who provides a fraudulent form of identity, as well as any employer who accepts a fraudulent form of identity, is guilty of perjury. Contractors and unpaid volunteers are not required to fill the I9 form.

I9 consists of two main sections, and Section 1 and Section 2 should be completed by the employee and the employer, respectively. Below information is entered into the I9 form.

Section 1

• Name, address and zip code of the employee
• Date of birth
• Social security number

Section 2

This section includes document titles examined by the employer for verification purpose of the employee along with the issuing authority and expiration date. IRCA has specified documents under three lists for this purpose.

List A

List A details the documents required for both identity and employment authorization.

E.g. US Passport

List B

List B details the documents examined for identity verification

E.g. Driver’s license

List C

List C lists out the documents needed for employment authorization.

E.g. Social Security Number card

Form I9 can be downloaded from US Citizenship and Immigration Services Website.

What is W9?

W9 is a form filled by third party companies such as independent contractors who provide services to companies, upon the request from the respective company. Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification Form is another name given to the W9 form.

The following information is included on the W9 form.

General Information

• Name of the taxpayer
• Business/entity name
• Federal tax clarification (to indicate the type of the business)
• Address and zip code

Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)

TIN is a unique 11 digit numeric code issued for vendors and dealers who are liable to pay VAT (Value Added Tax).

Certification

In this section, the taxpayer certifies that the correct TIN is provided in the form

W9 is an IRS form; however, this is not sent to the IRS, but is maintained by the individual who files the information return for verification purposes. W9 also serves as an important identification of the TIN of the taxpayer. Companies who obtain services from third parties has to request the W9 from a U.S. citizen or a foreign national. The information in this form becomes useful when the company is reporting to the Internal Revenue Service to indicate the amount of funds third party companies.

Form W9 PDF

What is the Difference Between I9 and W9?

Summary – I9 vs W9

The difference between I9 and W9 is preliminarily based on the purpose that they are used for. The form used for employee verification for federal government purposes in the United States is the I9 form while the form filled by third party companies such as independent contractors is known as the W9 form. Concealing true identity to obtain employment and mismanagement of tax can be avoided via these documents.

Download PDF Version of I9 vs W9

You can download PDF version of this article and use it for offline purposes as per citation notes. Please download PDF version here Difference Between I9 and W9.

References:

1.” Employment Eligibility Verification.” USCIS. N.p., n.d. Web. Available here. 23 June 2017.
2. Heathfield, Susan M. “What Every Employer Should Know About the I-9 Form.” The Balance. N.p., n.d. Web. Available here. 23 June 2017.
3. Perez, William. “What You Need to Know about Form W-9.” The Balance. N.p., n.d. Web. Available here.  22 June 2017.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Form W-9, 2005” By Unknown – (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Pasaporte-eua” – original uploader was Mkt3000 dot com (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia